Storms Change Everything
by WhispertheWolf
Summary: Hard to explain. 14 oneshots/drabbles about moments in "Storm Hawks" where storms appear . . . literally and figuratively.


Author's Notes: Well, I was writing for my fic _Storm Hawks_ (the series in book form) the other day on a very stormy day. My dog was glued to my legs, whimpering and quivering, and my cat refused to leave my lap. Even I jumped when the lightning flashed right outside with a horrific _BOOM!_ But in that, since my mind was already on _Storm Hawks_, I was inspired to write this. Purpose of this fic? It's meaning? Let me know if you figure it out. I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

Seriously, though, the song I got the quote from? You've got to listen to it! It's perfect for the Storm Hawks! I think I should write a songfic with it.

Anyway, I've held you up enough. Onward . . . into the storm!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part _Storm Hawks_. It is property of Nerd Corps.

* * *

**Storm Hawks—Storms Change Everything**

**By WhispertheWolf**

_Into the fires of forever we will fly through the heavens  
With the power of the universe we stand strong together  
Through the force in our power, it will soon reach the hour  
For victory we ride, fury of the storm!_

~Dragonforce, "Fury of the Storm"

_**Before the Storm**_

Legend has it that the world of Atmos was once a united land. But the Helix Crystal was mishandled, unleashing terrible storms throughout Atmos that ripped the land apart, creating the terras we know today.

One of these terras was named for the very storm that created it. A cyclone created Cyclonia.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Into the Storm**_

Master Cyclonis looked out from her window upon her kingdom. Once the world had been united. She hoped to unite it again.

She ordered for the invasion and destruction to start. And her granddaughter watched.

The cyclone had bred the conqueror.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Calm Before the Storm**_

Lightning Strike knew that the best way to protect all of Atmos was to have a squadron dedicated to doing just that.

They would call themselves the Storm Hawks. After all, was that not a fitting name for a squadron who's first Sky Knight was named Lightning Strike?

But as Lightning looked out from the frontal window of the _Condor_, he saw the destruction Cyclonia had caused on one of the terras, sweeping away its inhabitants like a hurricane.

It burned anger in him. And he vowed that Cyclonia would soon meet his squadron and every other Sky Knight squadron he could convince to join him.

A new storm was coming.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Dying Storm**_

The Storm Hawks were leading the charge against the Cyclonians. Correction: Lightning Strike was leading them.

But his copilot smirked. Now was his time to strike. The young man had been subjugated to mistreatment and a lack of respect for some time now. He was not going to get the power he sought among the Storm Hawks.

So while Lightning Strike was settling in his seat again, the copilot reached for the sword. "Let me take a load off your back," he said. He pulled the sword free. Lightning whirled around, looking shocked and frightened. But the copilot was ready. "Sorry, dear leader," he said, smirking in triumph. And he brought the sword down.

The young man watched his leader fall to the Wastelands. He kept his smirk, and his dark eyes lit with a strange red light as lightning flashed across the red skies above.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Rising Storm**_

It was amazing, Piper thought. Never in their wildest dreams had she and her friends thought anything like this could happen, that one of them could be the heir to a Sky Knight squadron. Yet they had accepted it so willingly because it was a way out, a beacon of hope for them.

She looked up at Aerrow once more. He was standing behind the railing on the bridge, his eyes on the skies beyond. He seemed distant, too distant for her to guess what he was thinking.

Perhaps she should be less surprised he wanted them to be his squadron. But he could have had anyone. Yet he wanted them by his side. Hopefully they could live up to that.

She had no worries about Aerrow living up to it. She knew he would be a great Sky Knight because she knew _him_.

He had always been this way, kind and brave and steady, from the day she had met him. Her terra had been invaded on a day of a terrible storm. She had run, realizing that her parents wouldn't come for her, the rain washing her tears away. He and Radarr had come to her to help. Aerrow was a lowly orphan, one that the parents kept their kids away from because they feared him. But he came in the pouring ran, drenched and sputtering, to help whoever he could. He ended up pulling her away from the carnage as the lightning flashed overhead. She had felt then that only he had the power to face the storm and protect her from it.

She had never thought much before of the storm that raged the night they met except in her nightmares, but perhaps it had been a symbol, a prophecy of what her new friend would become.

The storm was his destiny. To lead the Storm Hawks.

Because of him, the Storm Hawks rose again.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Storm Strikes**_

"You're just a bunch of kids!"

That had been the last straw of Aerrow's tolerance. The feeling had risen within him before him quite knew what to do with it. Some instinctual feeling that he let overtake him and power him. He sensed the power of his blades stronger than ever and let them consume him. Before he knew it, he was surrounded in a blue aurora. He rose into the air, the shape of his aurora giving him blue wings.

Piper's face lit up in awe and admiration . . . and fear.

With one mighty wing beat, the wings joined together to form a pulse. It was so brilliant that the other Storm Hawks had to cover their eyes. It hurtled toward Carver before he could flee and knocked him out cold.

Aerrow came down, staring at his own hands in wonder. He had just performed one of the most powerful Sky Knight maneuvers of all: the Lightning Claw. It was _his_ move!

And now he truly thought of himself as a Sky Knight.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Coming Storm**_

It was the perfect machine for conquest, a machine that could generate storms anywhere in the world. Cyclonis couldn't have been prouder. "Storms made us," she said. "Storms tore us apart. And now, storms will help us rebuild."

Never had she thought her own terra would need rebuilding. The storms had not raged over Atmos but instead had consumed Cyclonia herself. Thanks to that meddlesome Aerrow.

Master Cyclonis growled at the thought. Yes, Aerrow and his Storm Hawks!

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Storm Fury**_

He is always followed by a dark storm cloud now, one that his own Firebolt crystal can generate. It is part of the psychological battle the Dark Ace puts on his opponents before he faces them in true combat.

Only one had not been scared by his reputation, his taunts, or his storms. Only one had ever brought him down.

The Dark Ace growled. He had sworn for Aerrow's blood. One day, one of them would fall by the other's sword.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Eye of the Storm**_

Piper hadn't known it at the time. But the moment they had held hands in the storm to stay within the protective shield of the crystal, she and Cyclonis had been tied to one another. Now in more ways than one.

"So all this, this friendship was just a game to you?" Piper had cried when she found out Lark's secret.

"I don't have time for friends!" Cyclonis had retorted.

But Piper knew differently. And maybe knowing that is what made her susceptible to Cyclonis' words. They were a lot alike, she said. Piper knew that was true. The Binding was evil, she said. Piper could feel that, too.

"I don't need friends!"

That was the lie. The young empress longed for friendship. She had known that about the girl before she'd known Lark was Cyclonis. She had known that since they had held together in their force field when they first met.

Bound forever in the midst of a storm.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Storm Blows On**_

The Dark Ace knew he had Aerrow this time. No way the young Sky Knight could escape the tornado he had unleashed against him in the desert.

But he could only stare in shock when he found the Sky Knight once again in pursuit of him. "_You?_" he gasped. "What—?"

"Next time you try to finish off a Storm Hawk," Aerrow suggested tartly, "might want to try something different than a storm!"

When his plan failed because of Aerrow's distraction, the Dark Ace only wished he had finished the Sky Knight himself.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Raging Storm**_

Attacks had come left and right, struck before anyone could do anything. The air filled with the smoke of burning ruins.

But it was all according to plan. Lightning flashed across the sky as an apparition of Master Cyclonis' face appeared in the gathering clouds. "Be warned," she hissed. "Atmosia, you have just witnessed the dawning of a new age, the rising of a great thunderhead rumbling with Cyclonian power. These attacks are but a raindrop compared to the storm my armies can unleash. Surrender now, and your terras shall be subjugated with minimal damage. You have until sundown."

Aerrow narrowed his eyes. They would never surrender. The storm she threatened to unleash would not be the only storm coming!

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Heart of the Storm**_

Aerrow kept his gaze on the gathering red clouds has they headed closer to Cyclonia. An entire army followed behind him ready to do battle, ready to follow his every command. It was now or never, everything or nothing. It was the moment Aerrow could not afford to mess up or afford to let anyone else take his place.

The time to face Cyclonia had come.

So long ago, the empress they were about to put down had once said, _Storms made us. Storms tore us apart. And now, storms will help us rebuild._

She was right, Aerrow knew. And he hoped to be that storm.

This ends today.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**Weather the Storm**_

Six weeks of Cyclonian rule continued before the Storm Hawks were able to free their fellow Sky Knights and fight again.

But now, as Piper looked down at the many miles to the Wastelands below, she didn't think they could win this one, either.

She and Aerrow dangled from a drainage pipe off the tower of the Cyclonian palace. And the Dark Ace and the Master herself levitated before them, held up by the power of the Binding. "Finish them!" Master Cyclonis ordered.

Piper looked up at Aerrow. They had failed to save Atmos. She felt sure Aerrow could have done it if only he'd gotten the chance. But he hadn't. She had failed to save him. Not because she didn't have the means, but because she was too weak to use them. "Aerrow," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

She let go.

But Aerrow wouldn't let her fall. He grabbed her wrist at the last moment. "If we gotta go down," he answered back, "at least we're going down together."

Piper smiled at him wearily. Together. As one. He believed in this, even if she didn't.

The power. Piper didn't know where it came from at first, but she felt it tingling through Aerrow's fingers, into her arm, consuming her body.

And she was strong again.

They rose together to face their enemies. Whatever Aerrow had done, whatever had connected them, it had saved them. "Lightning strike!" she cried.

With her cry, the power of the storm enveloped Aerrow, and he let loose his might upon the Dark Ace.

The battle was not over.

* * *

_And the thunder rolls._

* * *

_**After the Storm**_

Six hours. The sun was rising over a triumphant Atmosia.

Cyclonia has fallen. The Storm Hawks have left for the Far Side.

The storm is over.

Now we rebuild. Until the next storm.

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, every single instant here is not mine except for "Rising Storm." Even "Before the Storm" is taken from Nerd Corps. It was part of the rough draft version of the _Storm Hawks_ plotline.

So, what do you think? Not star quality, I bet, but I think it's something. I just haven't figured out what that something is yet.


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